The core problem with Steem is the community
Steem has a problem and it is one that we can't really do anything about. The community. Sounds a bit crazy to call the community a problem, but it really is.
The reason it is a problem is that at the moment crypto is about profits, ROI and speed of turnaround. The entire spere is dominated by people looking to get in, get out and buy their Lambo! and very few really care what that means for the industry. It isn't personal.
Steem is different, it is personal. This means that in order for Steem to do well in the long run it takes a great deal of thought, work and a fair amount of emotional investment. As to do well, it needs to connect economic value and transactional utility to every day events and lives. Its strength and value is in the community but it is also its weakness.
For the most part, investors in crypto aren't looking anywhere near long enough for what a community requires to develop, and it is likely that many of the people who invest into crypto never intended to be part of developing a community at all. It was all about stacking and maximizing one's personal wallet. This will change in time, it has to.
It has to because even for those maximizers and stackers, for their coins to really reach the potential they have requires normal people to start using, buy in, get accustomed to purchasing every day items, put their businesses on blockchains, purchase their insurance or pay their school fees through crypto.
In the long run, the larger view can only be reached through the spread of crypto communities it is just that developing them in the short term isn't easy. We can experience that difficulty at Steem as we attempt to find ways to bring together a very diverse group of people onto one chain and satisfy the needs of all.
That is no easy task by anyone's measure and when it consists of a group that has many people who never intended to be part of a community, the task is harder again. Harder, but never impossible. This is what people might not actually recognize in the day to day Steem grinder.
Despite all of the issues, Steem is actually improving and the discussions necessary are taking place both on and off the platform. The problems we are negotiating and trying to solve won't just benefit the Steem community though, it will also be us and those like us who will mainstream the entire industry as we offer ways for ordinary people to not only take part in the usage, but earn in the creation.
Even the banks are unable to do much of that, they are facilitators of the transactions only but without communities willing and able to hook into everyday usage, it all becomes useless. A tokenized world needs to be created but those tokens have to be connected to something tangible eventually and, that is where community comes in.
This is why I find it interesting that people don't buy Steem at the moment as it offers all of the same earning potential of any other coin people speculate on plus the benefits of a community that can be empowered as customers to use that very currency and earn more of it. Although use case is relatively small, it already has both utility and economy and can scale much further when required, while many of the other coins people are 'investing' in are largely vaporwear ideas that are yet to convince the industries they are looking to be included in to use them.
Most investors don't care about use case of course because most of them are going to buy in and sell out well before most of the projects actually have a chance to do anything they were purposed for. It has happened many times before hasn't it?
Bitcoin is going to change the world, I believe in it and even though there are only 21 million in supply, I am going to spend 10,000 of them on pizza and another 5000 on socks
How strongly did people believe they were going to change the world? Well, some people did hold, some people did believe enough that they would risk not having pizza and new socks for a future far ahead where Bitcoin reached to where they believed it would. There is a difference in people when it comes to planning, investing and risking for the future.
Currently, many are still unsure about what is going to happen in the industry and therefore do not want to invest their time, effort and money into a community that might not work. Many are gambling that they are able to play the short games and then buy into it later if needs be perhaps.
This is Steem's challenge to face, this is the community's problem to solve. How can a community convince people who want fast profit to not only hold but add real value to the blockchain through their investment, work and responsibility to a commmunity that goes beyond their wallet.
It is not an easy solution, it is a long term process that might never be finished and that makes the time, effort and ROI very difficult to calculate and when value is tied to community, hard to enumerate accurately.
When we look down the tracks of future history, what are we looking at? Is success of crypto just as a trading token or does it attach to real world events? Is it just to move financial value from one point to another or is it to build networks of trust where unfamiliar people can work together? Is the future of crypto in finance or community?
If value requires usage, the community has to play a vital role and if the economy doesn't tie communities in ways they can grow together, where is the value and utility?
This long term view of individuals and groups tied together all over the world to form communities is what gives me a positive outlook on Steem. Because, a community that works, grows and trusts together is antifragile as challenges are shared experiences solved and this brings connection and broad-based stabilityt to the group as well as ownership and responsibility over its future.
But hey, keep chasing those short gains and supporting the system that you are trying desperately to escape.
Goodnight.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
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Steem could be made prettier if we had a front-end that edited out all the noise. 99% of posts have zero real value to anyone outside of Steem.
At the moment it is like a place where we all pay ourselves to put up with each others shitty posts.
With link-sharing/shortform dapps becoming popular (DLike, SteepShot, for example), it doesn’t seem like “shitty” posts are going anywhere. I happen to indulge myself with a short, personal blurb on SteepShot every once in awhile. It bears the question: Is Steem a social blockchain, or a serious, journalistic blockchain? Which has more value to people outside of Steem?
I think that this will be differentiated by app soon. The catchall of Steemit doesn't do anyone any favours.
Agreed. I do find myself coming back to Steemit quite often. But that's because of the blogs I follow.
The more it supports our interests (and lives later) the more we will return until it is natural and integrated into daily action.
it's social, and that's good enough for me. Plus, some good journalism. On the side. Like chutney or hot sauce.
What we can all agree Steem is; blockchain (distributed database) where shareholders decide what new entries to database gain what share of the issuance of newly minted coins with one click of an button. That's the most fundamental core of Steem.
We're more like a traditional company than many other blockchains since shareholders play very important part in this ecosystem. but that's offtopic, the point is Steem can be both: social blockchain and serious journalistic one in my opinion. Especially when SMT's come and everyone can run their own "company" (mini Steem) here.
Check out https://www.steeve.app/ - They are working hard on ways to filter 'noise'.
lol, love this line!
No. We don't pay each other to put up with shitty posts - that's what you might think. I pay people because they are fucking awesome and write some cool stuff. And if it's of value to crew IN steem, then yeah, awesome. Come in, hang out, love each other, give each other value, support each other. AND THAT'S WHY PEOPLE WILL WANT IT - because we are fucking awesome.
The view of the platform also depends on where we spend our time. There are some pretty crappy content niches here. There are also some brilliant ones :)
Indeed! Agreed 💚💚💚
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classic
One issue is that people are so stuck with using only Steemit they're ignoring all promising development on alternatives, which are already better and will be a crucial part if Steem will ever go mainstream.
That's a big if.
Nobody will use Steem for fun if it's a pain to use.
Totally but I think that this is changing as we speak and the more development that pushes clean usability the better.
I can see the development, but if users will not find the other sites to use Steem and stick with Steemit which has halted it's development, I can't see devs continuing their work for too long.
You can create a perfect product but if people will not purchase it, you will stay poor.
I agree and the individual applications need to start making themselves continually outward facing.
lol. This made me laugh :)
Yep, that is the case indeed. But then, when it comes to most social media platforms this is likely the case also. The difference with those is that they are often first made relevant by 'friends and family' coming in to connect so the shitty posts are acceptable.
This will hopefully change with the applications that make it more friend and family friendly.
Yes, you are quite right. The future of crypto is about real world adoption, not speculation. Real world adoption is lagging well behind speculation but is growing rapidly nonetheless.
As I spoke about at SteemFest, the cryptocosm represents a fundamental new form of human economic organisation - Peer Production with financial rewards integrated into the existing Firm and Free Market structure (as per Ronald Coase).
This is the biggest change in the world economy since the introduction of money! It is not going away and will continue to grow.
This is why I am very bullish on Steem because it is the most advanced crypto in this respect.
Yep, I agree and even as price plummets, usage will increase. Price at this point is only a concern for speculators and sellers who need it but as compelling content and applications are delivered, people will use it despite price.
One issue I have with putting more money in DPOS makes it so we have leaders with Positional Power vs. Skill Sets and Business experience.
These guys are coinstackers that have some idea that they are supposed to take the most money out and take it out first.
I haven't found a great way to talk about it, but it is like we have HUGE parasites, that need to be fed before we can grow.
I don't want to put money in so they can liquidate it and it is still too expensive to buy in at a level where one felt they could be an influencer.
Yep, this is the nature of this market place I figure. Normally the business is developed and then the money made, this seems somewhat reversed.
I think you are already an influencer and in many ways, much more so than highly staked users because you have a voice here. If we look at influencers on other platforms, it isn't necessarily because they get paid, it is just that people listen. Having said that, stake does help a great deal with turning ears.
Do yo feel SMT's could change that? Because I feel just like that, and I'm sure many do as well.
"We can experience that difficulty at Steem as we attempt to find ways to bring together a very diverse group of people onto one chain and satisfy the needs of all"
A diverse community indeed @crypto.talk this is exactly why I just messaged you about having translations available as you cannot have a sense of community without communication.
As a newcomer that came to steem because I felt suppressed and censored elsewhere I had no intention to get a Lamborghini via some digital wallet. I know I'm not the minority either, the responsible people of the world are seeking expression, freedom, and access to shared abundance that can be enjoyed by future generations more than some instant gratification. They might not know or realise this yet, but exposure to a community such as this is a, step in the right direction.
"Synchronicity is everywhere for those with eyes to see it" Jung
Another spot on article @tarazkp.
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Someone else who manages to put my thoughts into a coherent reply :-)
If I may add, a problem is that we are all not starting from the same base point and thusbwe have different perspectives and aims.
Somene from an impoverished area of Africa or Asia doesn't have the same immediate goals than someone with regular income and and the trappings of a western middle class life so although they maybe altruistic souls looking at the betterment of the whole world in the long term, they have personal and immediate needs that rightly come first.
Our challenge is to firstly help and empower those that need most. The diversity here is beautiful and difficult.
Yes precisely @nathen007 this is a great point. Living in a developing nation I can attest to this firsthand and see a distinct difference in the network or SOP of the local steemians where I live.
The vision of empowerment and the nurturing of equality is at the forefront of their minds. The political and socioeconomic sphere of the country is in parallel to the steem ecosystem more than most places I feel. This presents a rare opportunity for this and all developing nations to swing the pendulum back in a direction where the current state of affairs is not seen as something to simply exploit by developed nations.
A beautiful and difficult world with the power and potential only beginning to show itself.
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The philosophy of it is still underlying and present in many people but that takes time for mass adoption to follow suit. Even social change is a trend which is why this is important:
Did I just fully upvote you twice in a day????
yessss ! That's what it looks like lol ! I appreciate the shared vibes @riverflows. Birds of a feather flock together, glad I could provide something relevant, something silly, and a good tune to jam out to. I'm calling today a full steem success!
Man it's so refreshing making connections in here. I just had a thought that this platform is like sitting down to watch 2001 A Space Odyssey whereas the other "social media" outlets are like watching Bill n Ted's excellent adventure lol. Each has its place in the pantheon of human interaction and fills a need but one requires more attention and reflection than the other.
My apologies for consolidation of RC by replying to a few different posts on someone else's post. I'm thrifty 😂
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I have to admit quality discussion can be found at Steem and usually it's happening between users that I've never seen before, that's always a positive.
I remember when Steem was at 7 cents and you knew every poster and commenter on top 20 trending posts :)
It's alive! That's good to hear. That a logical progression is taking place here as confirmed from an OS. That's some new slang, like an OG but instead of ol gangsta, ol steema 😎 BTW for any old headz I'm blasting LTJ Bukem logical progressions ATM. Bet
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The choice is easy, be a product that's sold (Youtube, Facebook) or be a owner (Steem) that can actually get share of the wealth generated. Just like Bitcoin was scoffed at first, one by one people realized that the value of such system was and switched over, same will happen with social platforms on blockchain. At least I think so ;)
The major information flow apps like Twitter, Youtube and such shouldn't be owned by one entity that can be controlled, like currently Youtube has been by advertisers.
We should have neutral as possible places for all different forms of communication (Video, pictures, text) so I guess I'll be OS for a while still :)
I'm blasting this:
@igster that link is so dopealish! And I am onboard with your sentiments. Thx for sharing that link, I love new thangs OS 😎 I've been an upvoting machine today haha. Doesn't really mean shit, but I feel like a baller throwing out mini singles to cerebral strippers!
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Hah, good luck on your journey to position where it matters, 1c upvote is a good start. Here, have a upvote.
Uh? eh? Birds of a feather flock together @skramatters?
¡We Aye Fuxor Rock Together! ;)
💪 ¿What else can we expect from a bunch of healthily twisted minds? 💪
@por500bolos you have really flocked my mind ! I love me some vulfpeck but hadn’t heard this tune. Perfect song to wake up to, the pancakes have never sounded tastier. I would’ve also accepted Phish birds 🦅 🐦 of a feather but it’s tough to beat the crispy clean feel of this. Well done my new friend ! Bless you !
Haha ¡excellent! I'm really glad I've flocked your mind mate. :)
And seeing that even when your journey may well have been pretty briefly through the fauna of this steem blockchain so far. You've done an outstanding job stumbling upon the cream of the cream of the most twisted specimens within the platform. Where the juicy meat of engagement & thought provoking stuff really lays and flows freely.
I'm not superstitious. So I have to conclude than your compass, magnets and natural synchronicity to find those birds of a feather so quickly on this landscape must be working quite well and nothing has been fortuitous nor randomly. You are one of us undoubtedly!! :)
So, now that I have your attention and probably you already ate your pancakes and must be now well awake... I gotta put you through a ceremonial dance of initiation. 😈
You'll have to jump a bit to the beat of this tune. I suspect you prolly already knows these chaps too. But if it's not so, I'll double your ration to not leave you hungry wanting to jump a little more. };)
Jump with this first. And if you dare to ask how high, I will answer, as high as you can!!
And if this also sounds tasty to you and you want more. There you go my friend. Have your plate full till midnight. :)
Have an excellent day!!
Flipping flocked up! The synchronicity has been full on since my conception from the primordial soup and into the infinite seas of steem.Your most gracious welcome serves as my complete and absolute confirmation that my intuition and sense of direction is still as keen as a sea turtles.
I did the initiation ritual with @actifit by my side and was ever so pleased that i had never heard the delectable tones of mop mop. I'm now ready for phase 2 of the jammy jams in my jammy jams in pursuit of the elusive 5000 step mark by midnight. Until next time I bid you adieu.
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I disagree.
The pizza was an important part of Bitcoin's history. Those early days proved that it could be used for real value. By today's value it seems insane, but at the time, being able to do that was a big deal.
Crypto has value because you can buy and sell it and use it as money. If everyone did only buy it...then it would shoot up in value...until it was all being held...then crash. I guess that's kinda what happened to bitcoin, as the fees and speed made it far less usable at high prices.
There will always be people here just trying to make a buck.
There will also be people here that moved over from blogging that don't even really get crypto.
There will also be people here that came for whatever reason and then end up staying for the community.
Just because someone's here for whatever reason though, doesn't preclude them from adding something to the community.
I personally think what we need is development. We need more, better, interfaces and tools. This place as it is now would be fine in the late 90's and early 2000's, but it's nowhere near enough now. We'll slowly grow and get more things developed on the blockchain...then we'll explode once enough is here where normal people can join and have fun. Right now we might become a large blogging site...and a mediocre sized video site, etc, but we won't even have a chance to develop the community we need unless we improve what's here.
100% agreed.
This is why they keep selling it as a 'store of value' because when it comes to utility, it is relatively useless.
No it doesn't but at the same time, this article is about the entire crypto-scene. While some percentage of users on steem can add value, ost users of crypto aren't looking to add anything in. This makes it difficult for them to be part of a community where individuals should perform something for reward. For most, it is more comfortable to sit behind screens and look at charts.
This is happening but it moves slowly (I don't know why really) and will continue on.
I do both. :P
I think that the group over at steem.chat and certain discord groups are communities...though TBH I think some of the "communities" aren't actually anything of the sort, and are just a group acting for self interest. So, yeah, there are a lot of self-interested slobs on here...but there are also smaller communities, and a larger community in Steem...and I think over time that will develop more. Right now it's all new. It might be that we slough off a lot of those self interested POS with every crash. I can think of a few high profile ones that disappeared. Good riddance.
Yeah, there are many and I don't ind losing some unnecessary weight.
Have you been following the recent lightning implementation? It enables bitcoin transactions within seconds and with fees of just few satoshis. It seems to be growing quite fast and will be a big game changer if adopted in full
I haven't been following but I hope that it works since essentially everything is still tied to BTC
I think it has been operational for around 6 months now, slowly building connectivity as people need to setup their own nodes and put funds into the lightning network. Just recently the maximum capacity of it surpassed over 300 BTC so it seems trust is slowly building towards it.
With it you could be buying a single gum with 1 millisatoshi fee (yes, it can go lower than 1 satoshi), and all that in seconds. The tech is being built, sadly crypto is doomed to follow these boom and doom cycles that are insane in their volatility.
I don't hold any btc myself which may prove stupid later :)
I think it's not a stupid idea to be holding at least 0.1 btc before the next halving and just forgetting it exists for a decade or two considering past performance. The limited supply and increasing adoption can make the price reach insane levels with time and 0.1 btc will be enough to not feel left out :)
That's my thinking, if crypto booms yet again after this making new highs yet again, even 0.1 btc will be out of my reach for forever so I'm grabbing my soon. People are saying 3k per bitcoin could be possible so it's best to be patient in this current market.
I find it impressive that many criticize the earnings of the platform when there is very little comparable to STEEM outside the community as we do not only earn for the value of our stakes but also have the opportunity to maximize it to improve the value of the ecosystem over time given.
For me steem has always been about creativity. The money was just a bonus. As I navigate around I discover this reality is abnormal. Most join as an investment and quit when the pennies don’t come in fast enough. For me personally the trick is that in between area... the getting bent over without lube by YouTube and Facebook and this idea that your gonna join steemit and make hundreds of dollars every post like on the trending page.
If more folks saw steemit as a real community... not saturated... where you can really create, interact, learn and have genuine feed back... and the bonus is these trickles of steem coming in.
Expecting of steem is pointless. Expect of yourself ... cause steem and this community doesn’t owe shit to nobody.
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This is completely true. The expectation on arrival and lack of expectation management is the reason so many exit. The lack of interest in producing for personal creative value is also another issue many miss.
Not buying right now, as this is happening...
Don't get me wrong, I want too.. but every 5 minutes I wait.. I can get more STEEM for my sterling. When it starts the settle, I will be in for the kill.
like an Orca?!
Right now.. with my budget.. it would need to be around 6c.. for me to do that.. and while I'm optimistic of that.. I don't think its gonna happen just yet.
I'm impressed that you've even worked it out!
Not sure if steem @6 c is cause for optimisim!?!
I would defo buy even more @ that point though!
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STEEM at 6c will be very interesting I think. Who will stay and who will go?It's easy to go into doom and gloom but I have already been though this on the stock market and you get... lets say a little hardened to it .
Steem has been at 7c before, those who bought then made a killing.
The saying "Buy when there's blood on the streets" exists for a reason but it's very risky! You essentially have to do the opposite of masses and what the current morale is, it's something to get used to
IT is a killer view isn't it? I essentially have to just ride it all out and see where it leads.
wow, excellent post // resteem
gotta forge on thru thick and thin
... we could be damned well surprised what the next months bring, nobody knows
Another problem in the whole crypto space I would say is the instant gratification. In the case of Steem for instance, people expect to join and start making hundreds of dollars with a single post fast since they see in the trending or hot sections that "everybody" gets upvotes, comments and so on.
Same goes with any other cryptocurrency. They put money in and expect to have tripled the money within few months.
People think these crypto-projects are easy to develop but the reality is the opposite. They need to start looking at them as a long term investment! The new financial system will not be built overnight.
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Yep, this is a big problem and is par for the course when considering the user base. It will change in time though as healthier views and habits form as well as use case that ties activity to life.
People are impatient these days and most have never gone through the types of mass change the past held.